Curse the Mainframe! 254 Assassinated!

When Rhys City was thrown into chaos because of the tragic loves story that was occurring in front of many eyes, The Great Expanse was going through something completely different.

Since Alexander's tragic death, it had been about a week.

A week since the war began in earnest against the Neil Clan.

The scent of death on the battlefield was not something that he would be able to forget any time soon.

It was a heavy, stifling sensation that lingered around, choking those that were still left alive.

He was just a little foot soldier that had to obey the royal family's orders, but he never regretted it as much as he did right now.

Stephen had been lucky in the sense that he'd managed to ascend to the foundational rank, but because of that, he'd been drafted into the army controlled by the royal family, which wasn't what he'd wanted.

Unfortunately, he'd been over the age limit, and none of the sects would accept him, leaving him no choice but to join the army.

Since then, he'd had to follow orders whether he liked it or not.

Still, though, this took the cake.

Why was the royal army declaring war on a clan?

Stephen didn't understand.

Most of the time, the royal army was out in the outskirts of the continent, pitting themselves against monsters and creatures.

Which, fine. Stephen had eventually accepted even if he didn't think he suited the lifestyle.

But this was a whole different ballpark altogether.

They weren't killing monsters or creatures this time. They were killing actual humans.

Stephen had been completely opposed to it when he first heard that they were heading to war.

Not only that, it wasn't even a war against another continent, but instead one that was taking place *inside* their continent. It was their own citizens that they were hitting. He just didn't understand why.

Why were they hitting their own people?

The first day, they took down a few of the clansmen who battled them, and the feeling of steel cutting into flesh would haunt Stephen for days to come.

It was different battling monsters and creatures, and he couldn't look the people who he faced in the eyes.

The first day, the casualties were high on both sides, but it was thought that the royal family's army would eventually overpower them in the coming days.

However, as the days dragged on by, it was obvious that the royal family's army were being pushed back instead despite their superior numbers.

The days dragged on, and the war seemed like it would never end.

Yet, only a week had passed.

It felt like a lifetime.

Honestly, it was the smell of death that lingered around that bothered Stephen the most.

The cries of people dying entered his ears constantly, and it felt like it was hard just to breathe.

Stephen wished that it would just stop.

He just wanted to leave.

The more they fought on Stephen kept getting the feeling that this wasn't going to end favourably for the army.

While their casualty count was increasing by the day, the number of people that were dying on the clan's side was decreasing.

Till one day, Stephen realized that their actions were futile.

There were no more Neils dying in the battles.

While the realization made him feel a little cold, there was a part of the soldier that also hoped this meant that the war would end.

"Shut up, fools!" Stephen heard the familiar voice yell. "Less talking, more fighting! Why do you lot always end up getting separated inside? Didn't I tell you to stick together already? Are you all just that stupid that you can't even follow simple orders!?"

The soldier seethed.

The second prince of the Rhys Royal Family, Frazer Rhys.

He was the bane of pretty much everyone that was there.

Not only did he never enter the battlefield itself, he only stayed behind and barked orders at them, flinging insults left and right like they were all incompetents.

Stephen had yet to find someone that actually liked the prince, with how he was acting.

They were all worn-out, and they just wanted to go back.

Even going against monsters and creatures was preferable than this hell.

Having to hurt other humans caused morale to drop even lower, but now, they weren't even doing any damage to them.

Stephen breathed roughly, just barely dodging the elemental attack that the Neil Clan member shot at him.

He stumbled back and his knee buckled, something that saved his life.

The whoosh of a weapon spinning by where his head had been previously. The back of Stephen's neck tingled at the close cass.

Stephen hauled up his tired body, gritting his teeth.

He had to survive!

All he had to do was survive to the end!

Stephen breathed heavily as he waited to defend himself from the next attack, only to wait in vain.

He clutched his trusty sword harder, craning his ears.

There was nothing except the sounds of a few moans of pain, and Stephen felt a bit of hope bloom.

Had the… had the Neil Clan members retreated?

Stephen backtracked and picked up a few wounded comrades along the way, heading back to their camp.

While they always entered the forest in a formation, various things kept getting in their way.

Sometimes it was the trees, sometimes it was the creatures, but whatever it was, there was always something that ended up picking them off one by one from the formations, causing them all to scatter.

The worst of it was the trees.

If he didn't know better, he'd classify them as creatures as well.

They moved eerily in sync, almost as if they were connected.

It wasn't all of them, either.

It was only a few, so they couldn't just indiscriminately avoid all trees either.

If there were just a few, then it was fine, but there were so many goddamn trees in the forest that it was like a living nightmare for them.

Even before they saw any Neils, they already had to face the harassment from the trees.

The Neils even started working with the trees a few days in, and now that they were properly acclimatized to battle in the forest, it was a lot easier for them, while the army was struggling harder than ever.

They should never have started this war in the first place.

Why had the royal family decided to start a war with a clan, especially a clan as renowned as the Neil Clan?

He just didn't understand.

Stephen cursed the emperor, the empress, the prince. Every single one of the royal family that he could think of.

But from the second prince's loud complaints, he reckoned that it was because they got 'inside information' which was obviously being proven false right now.

Stephen preferred to think that those idiots up top had been deceived by the Neil Clan. That was what got them into this situation in the first place.

If it wasn't for the higherup's greed, they would never have been stuck murdering people.

It was a popular sentient in the army right now, and nothing the second prince did was doing anything to dissuade it.

Morale was at an all-time low.

There was a shout of alarm further up, and Stephen quickened his heavy footsteps.

His body ached everywhere, but it wasn't often one heard cries of alarm like that en masse up at their base.

When Stephen reached the people crowding around, he had no idea why they were doing this.

He nudged one of the soldiers that he recognized. "What's going on?"

The soldier shook his head. "Man. They're shouting about how the prince is dead!"

"What?"

"Yeah, they say he'd been assassinated!"

Stephen was shocked. What did this mean for them now?

The chain of command was broken, and the second highest had been killed early on in the war.

The prince never installed another person to take command now.

Suddenly, things looked bleaker than ever, and the soldier's whispers started up.

"What's going to happen to us now?"

"Have we already lost the war?"

"What happens now?"

"A man completely covered in black just came and assassinated the prince. He didn't even have time to react. The funny thing is, after doing that, he just quickly disappeared."

Chapter end

Report